


Who do you love?

by IWanderintheGardenofForkingPaths



Series: Who do you love, Audrey? [2]
Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Cannon Complient Adjacent, Do with this information what you will!, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, I found I was writing myself into corners and don't like writing chronologically...persay, I just got ahead of myself and will post a large amount all at once, Not Abandoned, What if Duke was the guy in the Bar(n)?, William is irrelevant/non-existent (sorry Colin Ferguson), decided i'm going to release this like a series not like episodes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-07-19 08:43:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19971241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IWanderintheGardenofForkingPaths/pseuds/IWanderintheGardenofForkingPaths
Summary: What if Duke had managed to stumble into the Lexi brainwash-verse of the Bar(n)? What if he had introduced Lexi to the idea that she was more than she thought? William is not around to interfere. It was never really explained how he got into the Bar(n) in the first place. I posit that the barn was falling apart and vulnerable to being confused. Enter Duke Crocker and his preternatural ability to ignore the pull of Fate...This picks up with the very first scene of season 4





	1. Troubled Blood

**Author's Note:**

> I will adjust all Tags/Relationships/Categories/etc. as the story develops. Warning though, right now the plan is to make this a Three Gulls... eventually. This thread of chapters will stay 'T' and match maturity content equivalent to the show itself. However, I think once I get to the more "interesting" bits I'll have a 'M' or 'E' excerpt series, for those so inclined.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just the intro. Re-works the first ~30sec of Season 4 in line with my series summary

_That’s gonna bruise,_ was all Duke had time to think as the rattle of impact from white cement still echoed through his frame. He never in a million years would have pictured the inside of that damn barn to have looked like this. An overwhelmingly white cinder block hallway leading from nowhere to nowhere; It was broken into three parallel sections... for no apparent reason. The interior walls were lined with a series of door frames that just seemed to show even more nothing than the opening before. An ethereal light poured in, blindingly, from windows that made pointless the string of pendant lights that stretched outward into the light drenched haze that was the nowhere. Oh yeah, and it was falling to pieces. _If any building could induce its own seizure, this is it._

“Audrey! Audrey, where are you?” Duke yelled. He stumbled forward, searching, as cinder blocks fell and sections of walls were sucked away in Star Wars warp drive like chunks. “Audrey, we’ve got to get the hell out of here! This place is falling apart!” _Where did she go?_

A light right in front of his face sparked. Duke shielded his eyes, but, when he looked back up, it was almost like the barn was trying to answer his question. Images of Audrey danced like a hundred invisible projectors were playing home movies on any solid surface still left intact.

**Howard:** We really should go now.  
**Audrey:** I need to say goodbye.

**Audrey:** Am I even human!?

**Howard:** He belongs here now, like his mother.

_James. James is trapped in here too. Maybe Audrey was with her son._ The chaos of images seemed to settle on Audrey holding an injured looking James. _Okay, so where was James?_ As his mind asked the question Duke looked around again. He still saw the images playing on the wall, but the debris in the hallway had changed slightly. There was now a blood trail leading into one of the doorways and the smudge of a handprint on the casing.

**James:** Arla lied, Y-You didn’t kill me.  
**Audrey:** Why would killing you-- Why would that end the troubles?  
**James:** Because you loved me. L-Lucy said that killing someone she loved was the only way to end the troubles… Not just for 27 years, but forever. 

********** **

********** **

_What!? That's the freaking alternative!? That’s the answer they’ve been searching for; Audrey killing her son? _Duke had reached the handprint, and had been about to investigate further, when he’d been distracted by the show on the wall. Again his mind and the little movie seemed to be working in-sinc. _But…___

____

____

**James:** But, we just met, so you don’t love me. Who do you love, Audrey?

********

********

Duke wasn’t sure if it was the collapsing barn or hearing voiced, out-loud, by someone else, the question that had been guiding him since Audrey’s choice of goodbyes, since Colorado, _Hell, since I fished Audrey out of the ocean in a hailstorm,_ but Duke felt himself stagger forward. He just barely caught himself on the same spot whoever had left that handprint did.

A familiar rush of strength shot through Duke as he looked down at his hand. He saw the blood staining his palm start seeping into his skin. He knew that if he were to look into a mirror right now his eyes would be flashing silver, but all Duke could focus on as the world collapsed around him were James’ still echoing words. _Who do you love, Audrey?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Duh, Don, Don... Join our hero next time... Eh forget it... Next up: Duke get's dumped into the Lexi-verse and we get a peek at what's going on outside the Bar(n). Hint: Jennifer is not so quick to accept that she is crazy and actually uses her journalistic research abilities!!!
> 
> Also, to those of you sharp enough that you're about to call me out in the comment section, I realize that Duke just used his power in the barn. It's all part of my master plan. Bwa-ha-ha-ha. ;-)
> 
> [Ooo, and I've never had some beta for me. So if you would like sneak previews, once I get this running, PM me!]


	2. The guy in the Bar(n)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Duke gets pulled into the Lexie Bar(n)-verse and Jennifer doesn't accept a diagnosis of 'crazy' without actually doing at least a Google search about what she was 'hearing.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So William is out Duke is in, simple enough there. I'm stitching together different moments through out the show as they might happen, had that been the case. Mixed in is my own snarky imaginings. Outside the Barn, I've had to make some executive decisions to move the plot along sans Duke and, eventually, William. The first thing I needed was to get Jennifer to Haven without Duke landing in Boston. Hence her taking a little more initiative than she did in the show. Considering she's a freaking journalist, I don't think it's that big of a stretch. I hope you enjoy!!! Comments are always motivational if you like it. <3

It was like a rope tied to his intestines had been yanked suddenly downward, pulling him through a cold curtain of liquid. The rapid fire progression of reality shifts left Duke reeling worse than a Tijuana hangover. It took several deep breaths before he could take in his unexpectedly pseudo-familiar surroundings.

Honey toned wood paneling and cheesy country music were the first stimuli to break through his jarring pain. He was standing in the shadowed entrance to a western bar so generic it was a caricature of itself. _I have a feeling I’m not in Maine anymore. _Behind him the eerie white glow from the barn stretched on forever in matte shapelessness. The light did not penetrate further than the door, and gave Duke a strong, uneasy feeling. Anything was better than there. What lay on his side of the door was not a Maine bar, nor was it the usual “pirate” dive bar he would have frequented on his travels, but it was better than literal ‘nothing’.__

He had been to bars like this; you couldn’t have seen as much of the world as he had without going to a few bad country-western bars. However, it was more likely to be because a contact had chosen it as the meet. He actually avoided spots like this, as, more often than not, a visit to one ended in a fist fight with some redneck angry at the “hippy” flirting with his “woman.” _Okay, Yes, I usually was flirting but I’m a yogi-pirate-smuggler not a “hippy.” ___

Duke stepped forward into the bar. He registered the neon signs and sullen customers, but his eyes were immediately drawn over to a set of amazing curves encased within a short denim skirt and a snug black tee. He admired the way streaky curls cascaded around those curves as he mentally acknowledged that maybe he had earned a few of those redneck right hooks over the years.

Right then, a similarly clad brunette behind the bar called out, “Lexie? Did you give this boy a Screaming Orgasm?”

“Well, he asked so nice, how could I say no?” The woman with those curves responded, in a voice so familiar it hit Duke harder than any drunk in a bar ever could.

_Audrey? ___

____

____

*~*~*

_I just need to see with my own eyes. I need to hear once and for all that none of what I heard is real and that I am just going crazy. _“BUT I DON’T WANT TO BE CRAZY!” Jennifer yelled, banging the heels of her palms into the dashboard of her car. She was just realizing she’d said that last bit out loud… very loud… when a guy walking past her open window startled, made eye contact, and then raised an eyebrow that seemed to say, “Good luck with that.” He paused for a beat before carrying on down the street with his hands still in his pockets.__

____

____

Jennifer pointedly studied the ‘Haven Joe’s’ Bakery sign thinking that until the guy showered, and did something about that facial hair, he had no right seeming that...judgey. She huffed out a breath, undid her seat belt, and hopped out of the car. _Okay, time for plan A. Casual mention in a public setting. ___

Jennifer walked into the bakery section of the restaurant and got in line to order a coffee. After she blurted out,”Mocha Cappuccino… please?” the cashier tee’d her up perfectly with a friendly smile and a, “Sure. So what brings you to town?” as she started writing on the cup and Jennifer handed her cash.

Jennifer smiled back and responded, “Oh, I’m just looking for someone related to a story I’m working on. I’m a journalist.” Jennifer thought the cashier’s smile got a little brittle at the mention of her job, but that reaction wasn’t unheard of. Things got very strange, however, when she continued, “Her name is Audrey Parker, maybe you know her?”

The cashier’s eyes almost seemed to bug out of her head as she muttered something about ‘getting that coffee’ and darted over to the espresso machine. Jennifer held her own smile a bit nervously and looked around to see if anyone else had noticed the cashier's odd reaction. There were only about three other people within earshot of the register but they all had a range of startled expressions on their faces.

A couple stood in front of the cake display darting glances between her and each other uncomfortably. Another man stood near the sugar and creamer station and looked almost fearfully at… a point over her shoulder.

A small hand encased in a black glove lightly pressed on her upper arm, just above the elbow. Jennifer jumped and followed the hand up to the face of the woman it belonged to. She was one of those women Jennifer would have described as ‘goth’ if it didn’t seem so glaringly age inappropriate that she resorted to ‘edgy.’ She was wrapped in a dark energy as tightly as she was sheathed in leather and eyeliner. Her entire look screamed “leave me the hell alone,” but she also wore a smile that Jennifer thought was meant to reassure. There seemed to be such a tragic air of desperation around her eyes, that Jennifer decided to ignore the mixed messages in the woman’s appearance and listen.

“Did you say you were here looking for… Audrey Parker?” she asked, but the pauses in her sentence felt like she was asking a different question.

Jennifer just nodded jerkily. She might have gotten out a “Y-Yes.”

“Are you working with Nathan?” This was asked more sharply.

_Nathan!? That was one of the other names! _Could she risk using a third? ‘N-No, I got her name from a man named… H-Howard?”__

The woman jerked back like she had been shocked. “Agent Howard told you about Audrey Parker?”

_Agent? Crap. _“Yes?”__

The cashier chose that moment to come back and slide the cup across the counter to her. Jennifer grabbed it up and immediately took a sip to stall for time, but it was still too hot. She burned her tongue and missed Jordan’s reaction trying to avoid a spit take.

“How long ago exactly was it you spoke with him?” She asked, getting more serious and less reassuring.

“Um..” _Crap, well the voices had started about two months ago, _”It’s been a couple months?” Jennifer squeaked, still not quite able to rid the question from her tone.__

The woman’s shoulders seemed to relax at that response but her eyes looked even more desperately despondent. Jennifer realized one of the woman’s arms was in a black sling hidden by the leather jacket draped over her shoulders. She put forward the gloved hand of her good arm and held Jennifer’s gaze with a strange intensity. Jennifer couldn’t help but get the feeling that this was one more test, but she reached out and grasped the offered hand, “Jennifer, Jennifer Mason.”

“Jordan McKee,” the woman replied. Jennifer only now realized the cafe had slowly emptied until she and Jordan were the only people left inside. It felt strange to feel so cornered in such a public space.

“Can you tell me about Audrey Parker?” Jennifer asked.

“Seeing as she’s dead, I’d be much more interested to hear what you know about her.”

“Dead? Wait, but she _was _real?” Jennifer demanded. _Then I’m really not crazy!_ An entirely new and even more disturbing option occurred to her. _No! No, this is not the freaking Sixth Sense_ “How long ago did she die?” Jennifer asked, but Jordan ignored her and had just finished punching in numbers on a cell phone.__

“Yeah, Kirk. Cancel the jump on Nathan. There some woman in Joe’s asking about Audrey Parker,” she paused before a moment later she swore and turned to the window, “What do you mean he’s…”

The bell over the door jingled as someone walked in. It was the same disheveled man Jennifer had seen on the street. “Jordan?” he addressed the woman as he walked in. Jennifer didn’t really like the fact that something about the situation was causing the man to hold his arms out away from his body... _like he needs to prove he doesn’t have a weapon_ Jennifer put her other hand,the one not holding coffee, up like this had become an old time robbery. Without moving anything else on his body, the man’s eyes flicked her way. “You?”

“Get out of here, Nathan. This doesn’t concern you anymore.” Jordan spat.

“Anymore?” Was all he asked, calmly.

“Yeah, ANYMORE. Not after you choose yourself over the entire town and not after Dwight suspended you from the force.” Jordan continued, venomously.

“You’re a cop?” Jennifer asked, slightly relieved.

“Yup,” was all he said in response.

“And you’re Nathan and you’re not dead?!” Jennifer asked, excitedly this time.

That question didn’t actually get a verbal reply, but he did look over at her with another confused quirk of an eyebrow. _Yeah, that did sound kind of weird, but at least I’m not hearing dead people!_ Something else that Jordan had said also suddenly made more sense. _She asked if I was working with Nathan. She asked when I said I was looking for Audrey. Then..._ “Are you looking for Audrey Parker, too, then? Is she actually dead?”

The man, Nathan, froze and for the first time turned fully to look at her. If Jordan had looked tragically desperate, the look in his eyes neared maddening tortured hope. Graveled with despair and disuse his voice ground out, “Where is she? Where's Audrey?”

*~*~*

“Just looking for one guy, you know, one decent guy. Is that too much to ask?” Lexie asked Rhonda.

“You couldn't rustle up two while you're at it?" Rhonda joked. "Anyway, you are wasting your time looking around here,” she responded before heading out for the bank.

Lexie was about to start rinsing the old glassware when she noticed something out of place. Or rather someone out of place. A man stood looking shell shocked at her from the entrance to the bar. A… _beautiful_ man. It was not usually a word she would use for man, but the balance of sculpted features with his strong jaw and deceptively neat disheveled-but-not facial hair and ponytail, all came together in a roguish elegance that was…well...beautiful. _He definitely Man-scapes._

Lexie had almost regathered her wits when the look on his face shifted from stunned to… _Oh, my_. Lexie knew that look. The charming grin and the eyes dancing dark from within heavily lashed eyes. It made her insides squirm and normally she’d look at a man like this and accept it to be just simple physical attraction. But...she _knew_ that look. It wasn’t just that it resembled every man that had ever looked at her and wanted her. It was that _this_ man had looked at her like this before. Had… always… looked at her like this. An echo fluttered deeply down inside her soul.

He walked warily up to the bar, never completely losing eye contact with her. He sat down and they both just stared at each other for a moment, before Lexie coughed lightly jerking her eyes away and asked, “Can I help you?” with a small nervous laugh.

“Well, I’ve had a very confusing day, and I’ve never been one to turn down a drink,” He responded. His voice was soft, hesitant, and when he spoke low it gave a smokey strained quality to the words.

Without a word and a smile still dancing on her lips Lexie grabbed a bottle from the back wall. Taking only short, darting glances down to see what she was doing, Lexie scooped ice into one of the nicer glasses and poured the amber liquid. She slid the drink across the short expanse of bar that separated them. She still felt a strange sense of intensity and deja-vu, but had decided to embrace it with flirtatious humor.

“Bourbon, on the rocks,” she said grinning more widely.

“Not exactly,” he said. Though he chuckled like he knew a joke she didn’t, he took the drink anyway. “And why would you know what I drink?”

"I wouldn’t. But it would have been cool if I did,” Lexie bantered back.

He grinned and sipped, though a note of sadness seemed to have seeped in under the smoke, “Yes, yes, it would have.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to try and make the chapters like full episodes but, at least for this one that didn't happen. What can I say, I wanted to draw out the tease and I can't wait to get to the real fun stuff. I'm slow going on certain parts because I keep getting ideas, jumping ahead and then realizing I need to be careful about who finds what out when, lol. This is all pretty safe set up, with some endearing references. Thanks for staying with me!


	3. En Guard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Duke keeps trying to poke buttons while Lexie uses liquor to turn the tables. Jennifer's arrival throws a wrench into the Guards plans and sets new events into motion that would never have happened if she hadn't found Haven earlier than in the show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still just warming everyone up and calibrating my snark. Important stuff is starting to happen though!
> 
> Sorry for the delay I've been having a bit more trouble with the scenes outside the barn. Duke and Lexie are way more fun and easy to write than Nathan at the moment!

“Do you hear how pathetic you are!? Audrey is dead Nathan!” Jordan blazed, “You killed her, your best friend, and half a dozen Haven citizens and counting. You killed them with your selfish refusal to accept…”

“Jordan! Shut the hell up!” Nathan spat. He needed her to shut up so he could find out what the hell the ‘Doesn’t-Want-To-Be-Crazy’ woman knows about Audrey. Keeping his body squared away with Jordan, in case she got violent, Nathan turned his head to get a better look at the woman from the car. _Female, late twenties, dark hair and eyes, petite with fine, pointed features. Excitable. Tends to blurt out thoughts. Let’s work with that._

“Decide if you’re crazy yet?” Nathan asked.

“Leaning towards maybe not?” she squeaked, lilting upward at the end like it was a question. “I am thinking I might develop a panic disorder though. Is she going to hurt us? Did you really kill all those people?”

“Don’t, Possibly, and I’m hoping not.” Nathan answered and as she blinked, _probably matching answers to questions_ , Nathan tuned back in to Jordan. Enraged she had pulled back out her cell and was pacing back and forth inside an area small enough that it looked more like she was turning in circles. Seething anger and leashed violence came off her like death rays. 

“Kirk, it’s back on, this ends today. He doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as the rest of us for one more day… Everyone is gone! GO!”

“Hoping?” was all the pixie-like woman got out before Nathan was moving.

“Possibly is now definitely. Need you to trust me and keep your head down.” Nathan put his hand on her upper back and forced her into a walking crouch. Muscle memory had his cell out of his pocket and to his ear with a number speed dialed by the time he had himself and the woman behind the bakery counter. He was checking line of sight to all entry and egress points from their cover when a voice came on the other end of the line.

“Trouble at Joe’s. The Guard. Out’a Towner caught in the middle.” He put the phone down on a shelf under the counter and had his gun drawn even faster than the cell.

“Nathan!” Jordan screeched, “We don’t want to hurt the girl, just talk to her. If you both go with us, this will all be over, and she won’t get hurt.”

“What about you?!” the woman hissed.

“Not stupid enough to think I’ll believe they aren’t here to kill me.” Was all Nathan said. _Safety, magazine, chamber_ Nathan did a visual check of his weapon condition, as he couldn’t feel the components. He'd had to turn in his service weapon, but a quick look through the Rouge had given Nathan several choices for a new primary and clutch piece. Nathan was on the third quadrant of his scan assessing their surroundings when the woman edged into his focus again with what seemed like a non-sequitur.

“You write newspaper ads?” she asked. He furrowed his brow in lieu of answer. “They charge by the word.” She revealed. 

That actually got the first smile out of Nathan in two months, “Nathan Wournos,” was all he responded. _It does kind of say it all,_ Nathan thought as he finished his scan.

“Jennifer Mason. You always greet ‘Out’a towners’ with a gun in your hand?”

 _What do you know two smiles in as many minutes,_ was all Nathan thought as he heard the door in back slam open and the bell up front jingle again in misplaced welcome.

_*~*~*_

_She not Audrey right now._ Duke couldn’t bring himself to think _anymore_. Some part of her had remembered their first meeting, after all. And underneath the… _naughty_ exterior, there was still something that felt familiar. Duke knew, instinctively, that this was a different woman that he was talking to, but somehow he could still feel the… being... that was Audrey Parker sparling out of those blue eyes. It felt like he was talking to Audrey if she had been affected by an anti-inhibition trouble.

That thought and the ogling he’d done before he’d recognized her, had done damage to the carefully constructed boundaries he’d put up between himself and Audrey after Colorado. On one side of his mental line was “Duke” and “Friendship” and on the other side of that line Duke imagined a “No Trespassing: Property of Oldest Friend (DO NOT MESS THIS UP)” sign. _Those exist right?_ He had decided to ignore all the anti-feminism of the ‘property’ bit to add to his own libidinous clarity on the issue.

Duke knew he’d need to slow play this as soon as he’d realized Audrey was not in the cockpit. _I have a new level of sympathy for the Chief, Vince, and Dave._ He could not just run up to her and start talking to her as though she was Audrey. He somehow thought only Nathan might be able to pull that one off.

“So I haven’t seen you around here before.” Not-Audrey said, a little slyly.

“Can’t say this is my usual kinda place.” Duke said back, “Till now.” Both grinned. _What? Flirting was what you were supposed to do with a boundary, right?_

“Name’s Duke Crocker,” He said. _Why not use a bit of the Crocker charm. I can’t call her ‘Not-Audrey’ forever_ Duke put his hand out smoothly and with another quick grin. He knew Audrey would have taken his hand and pumped it with a sturdy grip, just to remind him not to treat her like a ‘girl,’ but Duke thought Not-Audrey looked like she’d appreciate being treated like a lady.

She took his hand playfully and smiled back, “Lexie.”

“Lexie? Pretty name.” He says thoughtfully.

“I like it,” she responds, “It rhymes with ‘sexy.'"

 _No Trespassing!_ “Yes. Yes, it does,” Duke had to break eye contact on that one. Duke cleared his throat and asked, “How long have you been bartending?”

“About a month. Never worked in a bar before. Thought it’d be fun. Meet interesting people. Are you interested, Duke?” Lexie caught her slip, “Interesting! I meant... interesting.” She rung the bar towel she had been fidgeting with and scrunched her nose, not blushing, but seeming slightly embarrassed.

Duke grin was ear to ear but in honor of the ‘No Trespassing’ he was going to let her slide on that one. All he said was, “I’ve never been accused of being boring, but you tell me.”

“Well I do like to find things out for myself. Okay, tell me something about you.”

Duke could have started with his boat, the restaurant, his travels, the yoga… just about anything but, “I traveled to the middle of… I don’t know where exactly… to save a woman that is in love with my oldest friend, not me.” Duke finished off the drink in his hand and looked back up to Lexie, “Interesting enough for you?”

Lexie stood frozen, just looking at him. She was now fidgeting with the cord tied like a choker around her neck. “Interesting enough to get you another drink. What’s your poison of choice?”

“Scotch, neat. Where are we exactly?”

Returning with a different bottle and a fresh glass, Lexie asked, “Oh, we’re just a mile or so off the highway exit. So, save her from what?”

Duke thought for a moment, “We’ll call it, ‘helping her break out of a destructive cycle.’ Which highway?”

“Vague much?”

Duke just gestured in a bland manor, holding his second drink. “It’s the best I got, without a bunch of complicated explanations you wouldn’t believe anyway.”

Lexie snorted out a delicate little chuckle, “And shouldn’t you know which highway? The one you had to get off of to get here.” Duke, could see that Lexie was having trouble coming up with certain details. If the barn hadn’t had time yet to complete the mind wipe, maybe Duke could use that to his advantage.

“How did you wind up here?”

“I was driving cross country in a crappy pick-up, with my crappy boyfriend, when we got in a fight. I stopped for gas, and I stole his wallet. Hitched a ride here and I still don’t know how he paid for that gas,” she rattled the story off like you would the punch line of a joke, not her life’s story. “Your turn. What happened between the three of you? Because you don’t strike me as the kinda guy who backs off without a fight. Especially for a guy you describe as your ‘oldest’ friend, not your ‘best’ friend.”

Looking for an easier answer at the bottom of his glass, Duke decided to go with the unvarnished truth, and hope it would speak to the part of Audrey he prayed to Budda was still in there, “I’ve known him since we were five, our history is… complicated. I couldn’t ever hope to be the man he is. Audrey was the first person who really made me feel like I was enough on my own, and even she picked him.”

“Audrey?” Lexie asked quietly, but more like she was rolling the name over in her head, than she was actually asking for confirmation. “What is it you both love so much about this Audrey?”

Duke exhaled slowly, “You know it’s funny, because I think we’d both give different answers. I’m sure Nate would say it’s because she’s brave and selfless. That she would give up her entire world to rescue the people she calls ‘hers,’” Duke took a sip, “And, he wouldn’t be wrong, but that’s kinda what drove me crazy about her. If you want my answer, it’s because she always brought out the best in people. She can look into the most desperate of situations, the emptiest shell of what once functioned as a human being and she will find hope. She will find the last breath of strength someone has in them to keep going and show them where to look.”

Duke finally looked back up and Lexie had drawn in close to hear him. Her eyes were just a little glassy and she seemed to barely be breathing. He felt like he was getting through to her but hadn’t gotten there yet.

“I’d still love to know exactly what a woman like that needs rescuing from,” Lexie asked, without exactly asking.

Duke just held her gaze, “I guess the best answer would be her past, but I would also say it’s a bit of rescuing her from herself.”

“And why isn’t the guy she supposedly picked the one out here rescuing her?”

Duke snorted lightly, “She wouldn’t let him.” Lexie snorted a laugh right back before Duke continued, “And, when he tried to in spite of her decision… well, Nathan got shot.”

*~*~*

“And that was when you burst into the front with the two older guys and the three guys with shotguns busted in from the back. I still don’t understand half of what you guys were talking about. Like why you brought two old guys for back-up or why you took off your vest? Oh, and why people from a small town seem so complacent about assault, weapons possession, and attempted murder? That last one is really not making me all that comfortable. But at least Police Stations are safe, right?” Jennifer ended breathlessly.

The Police Chief, it felt a bit odd just calling him Dwight, blinked at that and just responded, “Usually.”

“Wow, is everyone here monosyllabic and horrible at reassurance?” Jennifer asked in frustration.

“First trip to Maine?” was the only answer she got to that. Dwight continued, “What I would like to get back to is exactly what brought you to Haven asking questions about Audrey Parker?”

Not exactly anxious to get into the whole I-hear-voices-and-doctors-told-me-I’m-schizophrenic-except-everything-I-heard-might-be-real… thing… Jennifer kept stalling, “I promised Nathan that I would wait for him to get back before I started talking about that.”

“You do realize that he’s suspended and has no authority to ask that of you?” Dwight tried.

“I realize he did what he could to keep me safe from the homicidally angry lady.”

Dwight sighed, “Jordan has more than her fair share of reasons to be angry in general and at Nathan specifically, but she did go a bit over the line today.”

“So conspiring to assault, abduct, and potentially murder a cop, even a suspended one, is only ‘a bit’ over the line?”

“You keep saying murder? You actually think she was trying to kill Nathan?” Dwight asked, looking more concerned.

“It seemed pretty literal when she was issuing orders over the phone about ‘jumping’ him and telling people he 'didn’t deserve to breathe anymore',” Jennifer put in acerbically. “What is it that he did exactly? He didn’t actually murder the mother of his child and six townies, did he?”

“Mother of his child? What…?” Dwight looked taken aback, but was interrupted by a roughly voiced question from the door.

“How do you know that?” Nathan demanded, entering the Chief’s office. As Dwight had ordered, he was now cleanly shaven and his hair, while still a bit shaggy, was combed and into some kind of order. He was also wearing a fresh set of clothes. 

_Shit. I hadn’t meant to say that._ Jennifer was trying to come up with a reasonable answer when Dwight bought her more time.

“Wait that’s actually true? Audrey was pregnant?! I didn’t realize… I never would have…” Dwight was stuttering, looking stricken.

“No, Audrey wasn’t pregnant, Dwight. Besides, you at least let her choose, you weren't up there to try and shove her in the Barn,” Nathan interrupted in his longest sentence yet.

“Then what does she mean by “the mother of your child” then?” Dwight asked.

“Sarah. 1955. The Colorado Kid,” Nathan answered, shooting one sidelong glance at Jennifer, like it was some kind of code she was listening in on. Dwight’s eyes got very large.

“I guess you made more out of his cryptic and mathematically impossible statements than I did?" Jennifer asked.

“You get answers when you give them,” Nathan pressed, “How do you know the things you know and what do you know about where Audrey is?”

Jennifer blew out a breath. Here goes nothing. “I will answer your questions, if you,” she looked pointedly at Dwight before continuing, “promise me one thing.”

“What is that?” Dwight asked, suspiciously.

“Just promise that if you don’t believe me, you will just let me leave town.”

“Jennifer, you haven’t committed a crime. Unless I think you are a danger to yourself or others I don’t have any reason to detain you.” Nathan looked like he was about to interject, but Dwight added, “After you finish your witness statement.” Nathan scowled more deeply but didn’t say anything.

“That’s not the promise I asked for,” Jennifer pushed. “If you think what I’m saying is not true, not real, I want you to promise you will let me go.”

“This have anything to do with whether you're crazy or not?” Nathan asked. Jennifer was giving Nathan a glare and just about to come off with a sharp response when Dwight chimed in.

“Oh, is that all? Yes, I promise that if you turn out to just be crazy you are free to leave and go… be crazy somewhere that isn’t Haven.” Under his breath Jennifer could have sworn he added, "Better for everyone involved that way."

It was Jennifer’s turn to blink in stunned silence. “I take back my earlier statement. That _was_ bizarrely reassuring.”

“Great! Now will you answer our questions?” Nathan, who was now pasing, demanded again.

“Two months ago I started hearing voices in my head,” Jennifer just blurted it out and waited for their response with her eyes cast down toward her knotted fingers.

“Ok? What else?” Nathan asked. Jennifer looked up. Both men just sat there, one calmly, one impatiently, waiting for her to continue her story.

Jennifer looked confused. “That’s it? That’s your only reaction to the fact that I hear voices?”

Dwight just shrugged and said, “Welcome to Haven.”

*~*~*

“SHOT? Oh my god, is he alive? Is he okay?” Her concern seemed a bit much for a complete stranger and Duke decided to take it as another positive sign that their Parker was still in there.

Duke took a solid gulp of the scotch, because this was one thought he had actively been trying not to examine. “The truth is I don’t know. He was shot and hurt badly enough he couldn’t go after Audrey himself. He was hurt badly enough that he asked _me_ to go and help her.”

“Exactly what are you and your friends mixed up it?” Lexie asked backing away slightly.

 _Shit, I didn’t mean to scare her. White lie_ ,“Well Nate and Audrey are cops, so the getting shot part isn’t exactly scandalous.” _Except the way Nathan had blown up the un-natural working order of Haven was scandalous if it was anything._

“They’re cops?” Lexie asked, sounding a little impressed. _Interesting._ Before Duke could ask her about it, she continued, her eyes doing a little flick up and down what she could see of him over the bar, “But you’re not. Right?”

“Thank you! No I am not a cop. I don’t know why people keep thinking that.” Duke realized he had been waylaid into one of his favorite tangents but it didn’t stop him.

“Could helping a couple cops have anything to do with that? What do you do then.”

Duke grumbled and took the last sip of his second drink. Lexie just tipped the bottle over top of the glass once more. “I’m more of a ‘little bit of this, little bit of that’ kind of guy. I like to hedge my bets. More than one iron in the fire,” Duke ran on, gesticulating with the fresh glass. He had to admit he enjoyed grandstanding just a little bit too much sometimes.

“So let me get this straight; You and this N-Nathan,” Lexie seemed to stutter over his name, she cleared her throat and continued, “have known each other since you were five. He’s a cop and you think of him as ‘a better man than you’ll ever be’, but you’re very proud _not_ to be a cop. You both fell for the same woman, but you backed off when _she_ chose him?”

“Yes.”

“She told you she was picking him over you?”

“Yes… well no, but right when something might have happened between us we knew it couldn’t happen because of Nathan.” Duke took another sip, as he squinted in thought. He wasn’t exactly sure where Lexie was going with this, but the more she knew couldn’t hurt.

“You _both_ decided it would hurt Nathan, so _you_ backed off?”

“Yes?” _Where is she going with this?_ Duke wondered as she topped off his glass again. Duke knew he was a chatty drinker, but _I definitely enjoy her form of interrogation more than Audrey and Nathan’s._

“So you backed off because you didn’t want to hurt Nathan?”

“Well I wouldn’t put it like that exactly but I guess. I’ve caused him enough pain in his life already. Pushing my luck trying to get between him and his ‘soul mate.’”

“Soul Mate, gah” Lexie made a fake gagging face, “who started throwing that around?”

“I guess only me… but it was facetiously.” Lexie just smirked and Duke took the bait, “Besides there is just no competing with a couple that the universe basically gave their own theme song. It’s like a little orchestra just follows them around waiting to crashendo anytime they look at each other. What is the point in trying to get in the middle of that?”

“You know usually when guy tells me ‘it’s complicated’ it’s some married guy trying to sleep with me. With you all it might be true.” Was all Lexie responded, though Duke felt like she was uncharacteristically, holding something back.

“What aren’t you saying?” Duke asked

“Just a theory I don’t think you’re quite ready to hear, and I might not know enough to say.”

“A theory? About what?”

“About you. About Love. About why you’re standing in your own way.” Lexie responded simply, yet mysteriously. A jolt of familiar yet carefully unexamined pain ran through Duke. _I think I understand why the Barn would pick this woman as Parker’s next life. She get's right to the meat of things. What the hell do I have to lose?_

“Have you ever been in love, Lexie?”

Her eyes looked so sad. She looked like she didn’t know how to answer. She was slowly shaking her head but the very last motion she made was a small nod as she held a hand over her chest as though trying to soothe herself.

“I think you have. You don’t remember who or where, but there is a piece of you that knows what love is.” It was faster than Duke had planned on getting to the point, but it seemed to be working.

“It’s like a string tied around your heart and it’s pulling you towards something you can’t see or understand logically. It’s something you just know before you put too much thought into why you couldn’t possibly be.”

“How could you possibly… who are you? Do I know you?” She looked so scared but hopeful. She continued to worry the spot just over her heart. _Here goes nothing_

“You tell me Lexie. Does it _feel _like you know me. You know where we are. You know how you got here. You know things. What do you feel?” _Huh, maybe Nathan isn’t the only one who could pull of the direct route.___

But then fear won out in her eyes, which seemed unbelievably blue, and were now rimmed by running khol and anger. “I _feel_ like you need to get the hell out of my bar! I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what kind of game you think you are playing but you need to leave!” she shouted. On the last sentence she lifted the pass through and ducked through to the other side.

Before he knew it, Lexie was shoving him towards the entrance. “Wait, Lexie, look, I’m sorry. Lexie, woah-woah-woah,” Duke dodged a few tables and stools backing up, but he very much did not want to find out what would happen if he went back outside the door. He pretended to fall, to the ground to stall for time, when his mouth decided to carry on for him, “God, Audrey, your still hot when you’re angry.”

Lexie froze, “What did you call me?”

Duke winced, “Yeah, I hadn’t meant to jump to that part yet. I blame the whisky,” Duke looked around trying to find anything that might help the situation. “Um, Aud… I mean Lexie, will you look around you?”

“Look around?! I want to get back to the part where you seem to think I’m…” Lexie tapered off as she instinctively looked around like Duke had said. Everyone in the bar was still seated, completely ignoring the scene going on right in front of them. “What the HELL, is wrong with you people. No one is going to do anything about… anything?”

“Lexie? Can I try something? Can I have you look outside the door and tell me what you see?” Duke asked in his calmest, don’t-piss-off-the-crazy-lady voice. _It’s actually sad that I have a tone for don’t-piss-off-the-crazy-lady._

“If I open the door am I allowed to hit you in the ass with it on your way out?” Lexie quipped.

 _Gamble time._ ”Yes, if you open the door. I’ll leave,” Duke said.

“Awesome,” Lexie strode directly over to the door and opened it wide, “Here you go. Nothin’ out there but a whole lot of nothing.”

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*~*~*

Marcie Tipton tried Warren’s cell for an eighth time. Connie had called and told her that Dan had gotten scooped up by the police and was sitting in lock up. _What in God Name were they doing with shotguns in Joe's Bakery!_ Warren was supposed to have been picking up some extra money doing construction with Dan, repairing meteor storm damage. The desk officer who answered her call to the station, however, had told her that Warren was not there with Dan.

_Then why isn’t he answering his damn cell! He is not doing this to me again. He promised me two years ago was the last time!_

She unlocked her front door to hear Warren’s phone ringing at the charger by the sofa. _Thank god!_ She walked back toward the bedroom to hear the shower running. Marcie felt the dread leach from her bones. _He isn’t cheating again!_

_But, shit, eight calls? Warren hates it when I get jealous. Maybe I’ll just…_

Marcie unlocked Warren’s phone and went to delete his call log before he could see it. Just as she was about to put the phone back down, a naked picture popped up on the screen with the message ‘Thanks for this afternoon.’

_"WARREN!!!!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That last bit is the set up to an original trouble I've come up with to stir the plot [pun intended, sorry].


End file.
